|  Pay attention to what you download or run
One of the easiest ways to let your system get infected is to download or run something dangerous. Any time you are running new software on your PC, it could be installing something you don't want.
First, do not download or run software from unknown sources. This includes web links or programs sent to you in email or over instant messaging. Even people you trust may be sending you malware, if their own computer is infected; many viruses and worms use buddy lists and address books to send themselves to friends of the original victim. If you are downloading software, make sure that you are getting it from the original source or a trusted "mirror". Pirated software or "cracks" for commercial software are often dangerous malware in disguise. Software downloaded from pornographic websites (such as "movie viewers") are almost exclusively malware.
Second, do some basic research on any software that you would like to download and use. Many "free" software packages you can download come bundled with malware, especially adware. Software like Eudora has optional advertising built into the program itself, which is safe. That advertising is limited to within the program itself, and goes away if you uninstall it. But many other pieces of software will install advertising software which runs at all times, which causes pop-ups even when you are not using that software, and which does not go away when you uninstall the original software. File-sharing applications are notorious for "bundling" malware, but there are many free and safe alternatives.
In short, every time you run a new program on your computer, you are handing control over it to the person who wrote that software. If you do not consider that author trustworthy, do not run that software. Be paranoid and be informed.
Do not go to dangerous websites
There are certain classes of websites which are particularly dangerous.
Free or illicit pornography sites - sites with illegal adult content are run by the unscrupulous anyway, and many "free" adult sites are using stolen content to lure people there
Sites featuring pirated software, "cracks", or stolen serial numbers - again, these sites are run by the unscrupulous in the first place
And oddly, sites with song lyrics - these sites are easy to make show up in search engines, require very little bandwidth, and can steal all their content from other sites
If you must visit these sorts of sites, you must be exceedingly careful.
Use a secure browser
A continuing source of malware infections is the Internet Explorer browser. There are several reasons for this.
First, Internet Explorer is the most popular browser for Windows, because it's built in. This makes it a very popular target for attackers.
Second, Internet Explorer has a history of critical, dangerous security bugs. These bugs have often let websites install malware onto your PC just by browsing to them, and these bugs have sometimes taken up to a month to be fixed. Many computers out there are still running old, vulnerable versions of Internet Explorer.
And third, because Internet Explorer has a feature which lets websites install software, this makes bugs relating to that feature extremely dangerous. It also means that user error can have dire consequences.
It is strongly recommended that users of Windows switch to an alternate browser, such as Firefox or Opera. These browsers also have security bugs found in them on a regular basis, but they are still more secure because these bugs are not as dangerous as the ones in Internet Explorer, and they are fixed considerably quicker.
If you wish to continue using Internet Explorer, there are two important things to do. The first is to follow the first step in securing your PC: make sure that you always keep Windows and Internet Explorer up-to-date by using Windows Update. It is also important to keep alternative browsers up-to-date, but it is ten times more important with Internet Explorer.
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